| “ | "I guess we'd better not." | ” |
— Sugiyama telling Mai that it's better not to have intimate relations with her.
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This article talks about a character of the novel. see Birthday (Novel)
Sugiyama (杉山) was an old boyfriend of Mai Takano who also studied at the same college as her. Mai was interested in him simply because of his gift of intelligence and the scholar that he was, as he would know how to answer many questions as sharp as a mental razor. he himself was proud to know everything so difficult. it was first mentioned in Birthday, exactly in Coffin in the sky when Mai was wondering why her panties weren't on her body while she had a broken ankle from trying to move while sitting on a roof exactly in a coffin.
He is remembered by Mai who says that she almost physically surrendered to him in the single bed in his apartment and the most interesting thing is that she says that this happened in the same position in which she is on the roof. Exactly on his back, arms and legs stretched out over immense pain in his ankle.
Background[]
Mai doesn't remember much about Sugiyama, but he is a guy a little taller than her, slender, pale and handsome, according to Koji Suzuki. Mai and Sugiyama while together were in liberal arts school. Mai says that he had many long and serious discussions about the intimate approach that she herself remembers being in the same position on the roof and so she says that she was ready for it. He was very proud of his intelligence as he knew a lot about astrology and Greek mythology. Mai took comfort in the androgyny that Sugiyama had, so she didn't give in to the choices of body and mind as she herself doubted at the time, so she started to no longer care about the doubts that her friends had in college.
The peak of Mai's lack of doubts ended when she decided that if she had to choose between a person's body and mind, she would choose the latter as Lotus without hesitation, because as said before, that's what she really likes about Sugiyama besides him same.
the time Mai almost gave herself physically to Sugiyama in her apartment, in the same position as she is on the roof above the sky, they both deliberated once and for all after confirming their real feelings but the moment is quite doubtful for Mai. She was thinking about discarding her virginity so in her and Sugiyama's intimate moment, she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes tightly, letting her nervousness pass the tension to her arms and legs. Sugiyama didn't seem to see this tension in Mai and didn't try to alleviate it. This tension remained firm for Mai and invisible to Sugiyama who slowly undressed her. Suddenly something fishy happened. Just as he slowly undressed her, Sugiyama stopped touching her and on the contrary, dressed her and covered her breasts very slowly and cautiously. he left her the same way, so innocent and inexperienced for this intimate moment. Mai very surprised asks him why he didn't continue and he tells her in his ear that he thinks it's better not to do that, which shows that now he may have noticed Mai's tension and nervousness, but it also shows that he stayed away than usual, since he didn't even try to initiate intimacy with her.. This made Mai's mind so confused and blank that she was just humiliated and like a doll that had just been dressed.
Mai didn't understand what had killed Sugiyama's inner desire and thought that her body was unattractive to him, but then remembered that it could be because she had small breasts and he didn't even need to undress her to find out because it was obvious even to her being dressed.
End of Relationship[]
Mai understood that Sugiyama had played with her virginity and only believed that he hadn't continued just because her breasts and body were unattractive, so she felt quite hurt and left his apartment and went home. It seems like the relationship with him ended there, but after Sugiyama, Mai still had a few boyfriends since then but she never crossed the line like Sugiyama did. Those seconds of doubtful emptiness about Sugiyama's desire always came back to haunt her anyway. Mai classified that moment of Sugiyama taking off and putting on his clothes as an assessment of nudity and attraction for him and she didn't like it. Since then, Mai preferred to remain a virgin for the rest of her life, rather than go through Sugiyama's insults again. Since then, Sugiyama never showed up to get back together with her and she didn't even want to know about him.
Trivia[]
• Sugiyama is only mentioned and remembered by Mai because she injured her ankle, was in the same position she was with him in the intimate relationship that did not progress, was without underwear on the roof during the injury and was pregnant.
• He is only mentioned once in Mai's lapses of memory.